Yuille-Williams denies Bakr connection

Community Development Minister Joan Yuille-Williams yesterday denied that she and Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr were friends, or that he had easy access to her office. Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference, Yuille-Williams responding to questions on whether there was a friendship with Bakr stated: “Mr Bakr is a member of the community. I read in the trial that he said that he spoke to me about assistance for young people and young people’s groups. My business is community development. I have all these people in Port-of- Spain, East Port-of-Spain, young people and elderly people.

If he said he spoke to me about young people and young people’s groups then...” she said, not finishing the sentence but shrugging. “And I am still doing it you know, and I have many more to look after,” she added. However, apart from her concern for the youth, Yuille-Williams said she had no connection or communication with Bakr. Did he have easy access to her? “Easy access? You (the media) don’t even have it,” she replied. She said Abu Bakr couldn’t come to her office to see her any time since she had some of the “best security guards” in Trinidad and Tobago. “They are very careful. There is no easy access to my office,” she said.